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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Curried Couscous with Broccoli and Feta

This is one of those recipes that tastes even better the next day when the flavors have had a chance to blend together. It tastes good warm, cold, or room temperature, making it an excellent take-with-you meal.

Curried Couscous with Broccoli and Fetaslightly adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups water or vegetable broth, or a combination

1 cup uncooked couscous

1 1/2 cups small broccoli florets

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/3 cup shredded carrot

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon bottled minced fresh ginger

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed

3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

Preparation

Bring 1 3/4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

While couscous stands, steam broccoli florets, covered, for 3 minutes or until tender.

I used a combination of vegetable stock and water to make the couscous, just because I had some on hand. I also used whole wheat couscous because it's extra good for you. The only place I can find it is Trader Joe's, though. The fun thing about couscous is that you boil the liquid and pour in the grain, like this:

And then you take it off the heat, cover for 5 minutes and it looks like this:

As your couscous is cooking and then sitting, get started on the veggies. I used a little over the directed measurements, because I always do. I grated the carrot with my Microplane ribbon grater, which is one of my most favorite kitchen tools.

Next it's time to make the dressing. Combine the spices.

And then whisk in the vinegar and olive oil. I ended up adding an extra tablespoon of vinegar.

Time to mix it all together, and you're done! I add the cubed feta in at the end so it doesn't get too broken up.